He was elected to the highest government office in Athens, Archon Eponymous, by the time he was thirty. He campaigned in the streets and could relate to the common and underprivileged in a way that no one had before, always taking time to remember voters' names. In researching the 300: Rise of an Empire true story, we learned that Themistocles less than modest upbringing benefited him in the newly democratic government of Athens. As described by Plutarch, his teachers would say to him, "You, my boy, will be nothing insignificant, but great one way or another, either for good or for evil."
It didn't bother him much, because as other children were off playing together, Themistocles was studying and sharpening his skills. Other children kept Themistocles at a distance. It is believed that his mother was an immigrant. His father, Neocles, was an ambiguous Athenian citizen of modest means. According to historians Herodotus and Plutarch, the brave Athenian general Themistocles was not born into wealth. However, they were forced to retreat after the defeat at Thermopylae. At the same time, the Greek navy attempted to block the Persians on the water in the Straits of Artemisium.
Leonidas and the 300 Spartans undertook the task, which is chronicled in the movie 300, with the Spartans eventually being overtaken by the Persian forces. It was Themistocles who proposed that the Greeks attempt to stop the Persian advance by confronting them on land at the narrow strait at Thermopylae. The second battle that occurs in 300: Rise of an Empire, the Battle of Artemisium (a 480 BC naval engagement), took place concurrently with the Battle of Thermopylae that unfolds in the original movie, 300. Athens victory over Persia at Marathon, Greece sets the stage for the motivations behind Xerxes's transformation into the movie's fictional God King. This happens ten years prior to the events in 2007's 300 movie. The first battle that takes place in the 300: Rise of an Empire movie is the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC.
What do the events in 300: Rise of an Empire have to do with the events in the original movie 300?ģ00: Rise of an Empire is a prequel, a side-sequel, and a sequel to the original film, 300 (2007), with the events in the follow-up taking place before, during, and after the events in the original.